Song of Solomon 8

¹ O that you were as a brother to me, Who suckled at the breasts of my mother! Then if I found you outdoors I would kiss you, And no one would despise me. ² I would lead you and bring you to my mother's house, Who has taught me; I would give you to drink of wine that is compounded, Of my pomegranate juice. ³ His left hand is under my head, And his right arm embraces me. ⁴ I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, Why do you rouse, why do you rouse up love, When it already delights? ⁵ Who is this ascending from the wilderness, Intimately leaning on her darling? Under the apricot tree I roused you; There your mother was cramped with you; There she was cramped, who bore you. ⁶ Place me like a seal upon your heart, Like a seal upon your arm, For love is strong as death, Its jealousy hard as the unseen, Its burning coals as burning coals of fire, The blaze of Yah. ⁷ Many waters cannot quench love, Nor can streams overwhelm it. If a man should give all the wealth of his house for love, People would despise, yea despise it. ⁸ We have a young sister, And her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister On the day when she is spoken for? ⁹ If she is a wall, We shall build a battlement of silver upon it, And if she is a door, We shall buttress it with planks of cedar. ¹⁰ I am a wall, And my breasts are like towers; I have, then, become in his eyes Like one providing peace. ¹¹ For Solomon, there was a vineyard in Baal-hamon; He gave out the vineyard to custodians; Each would bring for its fruit a thousand silver pieces. ¹² I have my own vineyard before me; The thousand are for you, Solomon, And two hundred for the custodians of its fruit. ¹³ You who are dwelling in the gardens, The partners are attending to your voice; Let me hear it. ¹⁴ Hasten away, my darling, And be you like a gazelle Or a fawn of the deer On the mountains of aromatics!